{"id":18125,"date":"2013-09-13T16:36:59","date_gmt":"2013-09-13T20:36:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=18125"},"modified":"2013-10-10T15:13:57","modified_gmt":"2013-10-10T19:13:57","slug":"presidential-portrait-artist-from-belarus-savors-new-season-at-emu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/presidential-portrait-artist-from-belarus-savors-new-season-at-emu\/","title":{"rendered":"Presidential portrait artist, from Belarus, savors new season at EMU"},"content":{"rendered":"

EMU President Loren Swartzendruber<\/a> smiles slightly, standing near the Campus Center entrance. Portrait artist Natalia Dubina painted pink- and white-blooming trees in the sunny landscape surrounding him.<\/p>\n

Dubina, who has studied part-time since 2011 in EMU\u2019s Intensive English Program (IEP)<\/a>, laughs ruefully as she gropes for words to explain the personal feeling behind her chosen setting of flowers and springtime. It has to do with the campus signifying hope and new options in her life. She arrived four years ago from her home at Brest, in Belarus.<\/p>\n

The oil painting, unveiled in June, portrays Swartzendruber\u2019s face as recognizably as any photograph. Yet perhaps inspired by a favorite artist she names \u2013 Ilya Yefimovich Repin (1844-1930) \u2013 Dubina\u2019s seemingly lifelike works incorporate personal selection and creativity.<\/p>\n

Getting to know Swartzendruber during the portrait process, Dubina found him down-to-earth and unassuming: \u201cHe is very polite; very happy. I felt very comfortable with him.\u201d In portraiture, she considers it most helpful \u201cto see the real person.\u201d It also helped that Swartzendruber supplied her with numerous photographs \u2013 aids, she feels, to acquiring a sense of a subject\u2019s personality.<\/p>\n

She has worked without such help. In 2007, Dubina created a commissioned portrait gallery of the 12 presidents of Brest State University (founded in 1945), where she had received undergraduate and masters\u2019 degrees and taught art. To depict one early administrator, she had to work from only a \u201ctiny little black and white photograph.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dubina\u2019s current portfolio includes floral still lifes, Belarussian and Shenandoah Valley landscapes, portraits of family, friends and historic figures, and a self-portrait in elegant 18th Century dress.<\/p>\n

In 2009, after winning a U.S. Green Card Lottery (i.e., a Diversity Immigrant Visa), Dubina came to live with her sister in Harrisonburg near their brother and his children \u2013 a move undertaken \u201cto help my parents [living in Brest]. They are getting old.\u201d She shares earnings with them from her food-services job at James Madison University, telephones them daily, and returned to Belarus to visit them this summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I came to America I didn\u2019t have a dream,\u201d she says. Yet recently she began to dream again of a future full of creativity, having received a written evaluation of her Brest education, certifying that she holds the equivalent of a master\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n

Now, she says, \u201cI just need English.\u201d<\/p>\n

Four years ago, Dubina knew no English \u2013 she was embarrassed to be asked \u201cHow are you?\u201d and be unable to answer. She was, however, fluent in Russian and Belarussian (her country\u2019s official languages), plus Ukrainian, and knew some Polish and German. She came to EMU because friends said \u201cthis is the best place for learning English.\u201d IEP draws students from around the world, mostly seeking educational or career advancement.<\/p>\n

Dubina teaches art to children and adults at her church, First Russian Baptist<\/a> near Bridgewater. Comparing American education with that in her homeland, she says \u201cI am interested in seeing how the schools are different.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Swartzendruber portrait hangs in the President\u2019s Room on the 3rd floor of Hartzler Library<\/a>, available for viewing except for times when the room is being used for classes or meetings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EMU President Loren Swartzendruber smiles slightly, standing near the Campus Center entrance. Portrait artist Natalia Dubina painted pink- and white-blooming trees in the sunny landscape surrounding him. Dubina, who has ... read more about Presidential portrait artist, from Belarus, savors new season at EMU<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":18128,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4515,5583,12508],"tags":[14007,11397,6069,5727],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-18125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-campus-community","category-iep","tag-first-russian-baptist","tag-hartzler-library","tag-loren-swartzendruber","tag-office-of-the-president"],"yoast_head":"\nPresidential portrait artist, from Belarus, savors new season at EMU - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/presidential-portrait-artist-from-belarus-savors-new-season-at-emu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Presidential portrait artist, from Belarus, savors new season at EMU - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"EMU President Loren Swartzendruber smiles slightly, standing near the Campus Center entrance. Portrait artist Natalia Dubina painted pink- and white-blooming trees in the sunny landscape surrounding him. Dubina, who has\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/presidential-portrait-artist-from-belarus-savors-new-season-at-emu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-09-13T20:36:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-10-10T19:13:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2013\/09\/president_portrait_web.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"610\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/presidential-portrait-artist-from-belarus-savors-new-season-at-emu\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/presidential-portrait-artist-from-belarus-savors-new-season-at-emu\/\",\"name\":\"Presidential portrait artist, from Belarus, savors new season at EMU - EMU News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/presidential-portrait-artist-from-belarus-savors-new-season-at-emu\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/presidential-portrait-artist-from-belarus-savors-new-season-at-emu\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2013\/09\/president_portrait_web.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-09-13T20:36:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-10-10T19:13:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/presidential-portrait-artist-from-belarus-savors-new-season-at-emu\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/presidential-portrait-artist-from-belarus-savors-new-season-at-emu\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/presidential-portrait-artist-from-belarus-savors-new-season-at-emu\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2013\/09\/president_portrait_web.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2013\/09\/president_portrait_web.jpg\",\"width\":610,\"height\":370},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/presidential-portrait-artist-from-belarus-savors-new-season-at-emu\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Presidential portrait artist, from Belarus, savors new season at EMU\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/\",\"name\":\"EMU News\",\"description\":\"News from the Eastern Mennonite University community.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Presidential portrait artist, from Belarus, savors new season at EMU - EMU News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/presidential-portrait-artist-from-belarus-savors-new-season-at-emu\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Presidential portrait artist, from Belarus, savors new season at EMU - EMU News","og_description":"EMU President Loren Swartzendruber smiles slightly, standing near the Campus Center entrance. Portrait artist Natalia Dubina painted pink- and white-blooming trees in the sunny landscape surrounding him. Dubina, who has","og_url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/presidential-portrait-artist-from-belarus-savors-new-season-at-emu\/","og_site_name":"EMU News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite","article_published_time":"2013-09-13T20:36:59+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-10-10T19:13:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":610,"height":370,"url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2013\/09\/president_portrait_web.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@EMU_News","twitter_site":"@EMU_News","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/presidential-portrait-artist-from-belarus-savors-new-season-at-emu\/","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/presidential-portrait-artist-from-belarus-savors-new-season-at-emu\/","name":"Presidential portrait artist, from Belarus, savors new season at EMU - EMU News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/presidential-portrait-artist-from-belarus-savors-new-season-at-emu\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/presidential-portrait-artist-from-belarus-savors-new-season-at-emu\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2013\/09\/president_portrait_web.jpg","datePublished":"2013-09-13T20:36:59+00:00","dateModified":"2013-10-10T19:13:57+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/presidential-portrait-artist-from-belarus-savors-new-season-at-emu\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/presidential-portrait-artist-from-belarus-savors-new-season-at-emu\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/presidential-portrait-artist-from-belarus-savors-new-season-at-emu\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2013\/09\/president_portrait_web.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2013\/09\/president_portrait_web.jpg","width":610,"height":370},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/presidential-portrait-artist-from-belarus-savors-new-season-at-emu\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Presidential portrait artist, from Belarus, savors new season at EMU"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/","name":"EMU News","description":"News from the Eastern Mennonite University community.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":""}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/112"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18125"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18129,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18125\/revisions\/18129"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18125"},{"taxonomy":"feature","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feature?post=18125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}